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Wail for Titani/^ 



VISION OF THYRZA 

OR 

THE GIFT OF THE HILLS 



IRIS 



BOSTON 

ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Copley Square 







t^tfi^ 






h-v.. 



Copyright, 1895, 
By Arena Publishing Company. 

All Rights Reserved. ^ ""^ 



Arena Press. 






If the trumpet give forth an uncertain sound, who shall prepare for battle.— ^ /*/<?. 

Come ! Come ! O light divine ! 

O Come Saturnian morn ! 
O L,and of Peace on whom recline 

Ten thousand hopes unborn, 
O Beautiful, stand forth, nor sword nor lance, 

Silent wielder of the fates ! 
War tamer, striking with thy glance 
The thunder from imperial states ! 

So hard, surpassing war, doth Peace assail ; 

So far, exceeding hate, doth Love avail. 

— G. W. Woodberry. 



(3) 



VISION OF THYRZA 



THE GIFT OF THE HILLS. 



Guardian Spirit, the shepherd's companion, Protector of flocks and 

of herds : 
Home-loving spirit whose life is gift of the sun-loved hills — 
Of Pallas Athene the sounding ^'Egis take thou, and the wrath 
Of Titania, beloved of Helios, O Thyrza majestic, chant. 
Of Orion the stormy and tempestuous, chaste lover and builder 

sing thou, 

(5) 



Who, squaring all things with rule that is fair, finds in all things rule 

that is square. 
Soul of my soul descending foreshadow a da}' in his courts, 
Where the fair dream of Dian interpreteth, God, 
Where the sons of the morning are laboring all, 
For the beauty of Love and of Dian, round Zion's great wall. 
Soul of my soul arising contemplate a day in the Earth 
Where Love is divinity, growing to hallowed and consecrate life. 
Interpret a doubt-saddened morn, that darkens to negligence cold, 
A day mist-shrouded at dawn : at noon, heavy with fiery cloud. 
With wind, the hail, and the rain : at eve, in full splendor the Sun 

restored. 
A while cease from thy passionate laboring, child of the Earth, and 
hands fold 



(6) 



In slumberless vision. To regions of life endless, behold, 
We uplift and enchain thee. Child of the Earth, attend, 
As, striking the hour, the voice of the strenuous gods to thy waiting 
soul comes. 

The day Define. The day Refine. The day Purify. 

INVOCATION. 

JP. o - lus ! Al o lus ! 

Long I've been calling my Arab steeds. 

JE o -: ^lus! yE -o lus! 

Arise from thy caverns so wide and so deep. 
Hither come from thy wanderings so wild and so high, 
Hither come o'er my love, breathe a song in her sleep, 
Hither come thy white wings between, she'll outride the waves ; 

(7) 



Go tell ye the East-wind ! Go tell ye the West-wind ! 

Call ye the North-wind — and forbid the sweet South-wind to stay. 

Onward, speed onward. Love's steeds from all corners call thou : for 

Who the place knoweth of the South-wind's calm birth ? 

Who the power knoweth of a North-wind's caress ? — and 

Who the heights have questioned ^vhere's unrolled the stripes and stars ? 

POET VOICES. 
Know ye a land where the Upas, the Hemlock, and deadly Night- 
shade, 
Of dreaming men's " Day " and " Night " symbols are made, 
Where the Poppy familiar, with breath of venomous Mandrake, 
United with all of like kind from Earth that's in air, 
Returning again to the senses of men, 
Begotten are plague and distress in the land ? 

(8) 



/E o lus ! M o — lus ! 

O visit the Earth with thy minor chords sweet ; * * 

In language pathetic men's weakness and evil deplore, 
As of old one sang to his thousand-stringed Lyre ; 
To " souls of the just made perfect " our harps may yet be 
attuned. 

ORION. 

Who for " understanding " Love barters, Knowledge the sorceress 

tempting, 
Her secrets achieves, but with sadness of vain and desolate age in 

his hands. , 

Bound are we ever to teach to men innocent pastoral joys, 
Without which ne'er was true patriot born, 
Soil of the Earth to protect from false usage of vice. 

(9) 



Else, how shall my love as the Lilies be clothed ? 

Else — how shall thy song as the flame be pure ? 

Brighter the noon's fiery glow, and shadows no place have to hide. 

As wondrous in beauty bright Helios, whom Earth's " Great Physi- 
cian " is called. 

List we His words nor question, lest timing his arrows 

We penalty pay of the fallen and perjured gods ; 

Now while the radiance that comes, in might simple of being, wrests 

From his path the hosts swarthy that rise, for a moment eclipsing 
his face ; 

In the name and the strength of all virginity holy that comes. 

Straight make we His path as the ray He lets fall. 

Glowing His face with wealth of blessed and perfected thought 

That reflected from fellow-men healed doth enkindle new light in 
the skies. 

(lO) 



Approach we to Him for new counsel and guidance, 
Whose light's nor "experiment," "matter," nor '■'■ morale,''' a cere- 
ment holy. 
Hence stands He with those who sacrifice offer in Dian's chaste urn, 
Knowing no law that is higher than — 'Tis "right" for 'tis modest, 
'Tis "wrong " for immodest it is. 

POET VOICES. 
" By the waters of Babylon there we sat down, and there 
They who our hands held captive demanded a song. 
Love, how shall we chant thy jubilant notes in a stranger land ? 
On the Willows our harps we hang when serve we a stranger's hand, 
Who the scoff and jest flings, nor know that thy passion 
We chant not through sordid and earthy strains ; 
Love's passion celestial we chant not for idle or selfish ends." 



APOLLO. 

Hail Orion ! Olympus, Father, to thee. And thee, strength of the gods. 
Of men the chaste ideal, Athene, hail ! Thrice hail unto thee ! 
Prometheus, mine elder and worthier self, we bow at thy call, 
At whose summons to-day in glad service of men we come; 
Hath aught of new prayer or of plaint, from distant fields stellar, 
Thine eloquent ears caught or thy heart's vision learned. 
Of new prayer or just plaint from worlds near or afar ? 

II" Earth " arises as one human form. || 
Cybele ! O Cybele ! great mystic Mother, my loyal soul's dear love, 
Whose glowing breast speaks to the desolate heart forever of Hope's 

new day, 
Whose all-enduring power, whose treasured strength's thy children's 

benison, 

(12) 



A new song wilt still teach me ? — who herein asks that, gracious, men 

Shall in all their usage, unto thee do honor. 

Exiled from all men prize — the gladsome joys and cheer of home, 

The voice of love — 
Still, in the light of God's great heart, with thee I'll stand and for 

thee toil, 
My one great filial love and synonym for liberty. 
Long have I heard thy cry, the hour awaiting and the Father's word 
To silence awed, as, mighty 'neath the listening skies. 
Thy great form rose, the heavens filling with thine agony, 
While every sound of surface force and iron power did flee away, 
" Deep — echoing unto Deep." But list ! Afar ! 
Hear ye God's greeting to dawning worlds passing — . 
Fair ye — fare well ! Fare well — fair ye ! 

(•3) 



CYBELE. 
Know ye I rise in passion supreme and proclaim Earth falsified sore. 
Know ye that men the soil prostitute, and a continent make foul, 
Nature, that's one with the spiritual world in all things corresponding. 
Her true uses sacrificed, to evil they turn. 
Poseidon doth sleep, or, becalmed on Indian seas 
'Mid perfume of myriad Lotus, reclines in a garden of Lilies ; 
Dream-smiling he murmurs — for dreaming he still o'er the depths 

holds rule — 
That Nature with men's passions demonic or celestial is forever 

in step, 
That they the great uses of life, of health, and of peace despise. 
The wholesome land tilling for falsehood and sin. 
Of simplicity, the perfumed incense, perpetual and holy, esteeming not. 

ri4) 



For this specious indiscriminating pride, darkened was the " Glory 

of Morn," 
And legions of Heaven to the beast followed. Yet 
Prayers of Orator, Author, Statesman, Laborer, and Priest, 
From caressing arms of Pacific calm to thunders of the answering 

eastern sea, rise, 
The heavens besieging in a puerile whine of " Clothe me in rags — 

clothe me in rags, 
Agriculture is on the decline.^' 

Far down the mist-bathed vales that once with sweet wine 
And with honey o'erflowed, with grain and with golden fruits healthful, 
A song lifting up "Light" shines on unlimited culture of noxious 

and poisonous weeds. 
Arising in purity to-day, he denounces men's blasphemous propa- 
gation of " Vice," 

(«5) 



Whose patrons, forever procuring, create it anew tor tlieir kind. 

The seedling bed theirs where the tree of Death, 

Termed sagely " Original sin," is planted, nurtured, and grown, 

To posterity saying, gather ye fruit of the winds I the brainless 
seed sow, 

He that groweth it unconscious planning the extinction of life, 

Bidding come to men in what form of dishonor, distress, or of false- 
hood it may ; 

The stench of this subtle modern phase of pollution that covers 
the land, 

Since filthiness of flesh and of spirit are one. 

Its apotheosis in public ye hear — "Divine" it is called. 

Where 'tis divinity its evidence, and expression's the sodden beast 
— abhorred. 

Who in search of Wisdom are trivial, in its applications false ; 

(16) 



Such is the manifestation of their love. Attend ye : 

"By the loves of a man shall ye know of his life." 

Justly the hands of humanity fall when asked to honor and respect 

vice, while 
Superstition's vain word is contribution of life without standard of 

purity 
For prophecy of a people's future ideals. 

The heavenly vault descending I too have listed the anthems celestial, 
That sound of far distant and dreamlike harmonies sweet — 
Sound of joy sphered that echoes Earth's marching feet. Hence 
From afar coming prepare I the way for him who the chant universal 

shall lead. 
That tells the " Golden Age " come to the Earth; who ever 
With humble glad offering of his best the heavens by violence takes, 
Compelling its powers to descend in benefit and blessing to men. 

(>7) 



OLYMPUS. 
Against culture of vice God's anger continually cloth burn, 
While presumptuous and grandiloquent men pray, 
" Lord, of all generations the dwelling-place art thou " : 
Hence we thine indulgence ask, the better portion of Earth to use 
For culture of vice in ourselves and humanity, for thou 
A race of clean men and gentle dost choose. 
Thy character on Earth to illustrate. If 'tis sin, 
We thy mercy crave, knowing not what we do ; yet 
Answer as we pray, who would truth learn. 
Beyond power of delight in simple life educate 
We God's greatest laiv of IjuiestnictibiHty'' as naught teach. 
Claiming the sordid honor of a blest annihilation at thy hands, 
Necessity asking not. "For such as we, even so art Thou " (?) 

(i8) 



The Lilies astonished have whispered a tale, 

That men stand before men, God's Oracle to expound. 

With a love whose fire is foul, carrying prayer unto Demos (His 

hound), 
While maidens with a like diseased kiss white Chastity insult. 
That hands universal stretch out for strange uses, and o'e,rreach 
The pure purpose of life, necessity questioning not. 
And men without poetry of filial love or religion are born 
To disease and mania by parents elect, a wail of woe universal 

sent up : 
As material nature stands up at the doors, echoing as a whole 

men's lunacy and greed. 



Passing into the distance, "The Intellectual Power" goes on. 

(.9) 



Ah well ! the soul of man our father Homer knew ; of riches gained 
Within the darkened realm of Pluto's stern abode, beside whose 

righteous throne 
The hovering, piteous form of sad Persephone her lonely vigil keeps ; 
Who prayeth at her feet no lack of intercession hath. 

PLUTO. 

Laid waste is the virgin soil with culture of a stench 

That's a self-imposed vengeance, filling mine Elysium with fragments 

and chimeras, 
Which to the human and godlike scarce bear likeness. 
With the power of thought slain, the life of no avail is foreknown, 
Yet some phase of genius to every man is Earth's heritage rightful. 
Arise from thy broadcast sowing of Dragon's-teeth, for 

(20) 



Shadows on thy spiritual sight gather, and thou sayest to Fate, 
Show me the why and the wherefore of my Ufe, and what 
To my neighbor and fellow-man is "Justice." 

II Voice ceasing amid the roar of the elements, to sound of heavy 

machinery the 
Cyclops chant. || 

Hear Mate ! We wait — On Beauty ! 

See Mate ! See thought — As Duty ! 

Help Mate ! We work — For Beauty ! 

See Mate ! See work — As Beauty ! 

My Mate, — she calls, — Excuse me ! 

My Love, — Is Love — The Servant ! 

My Law ! — Is Love — The Master ! 

My Hopes ! — In Love — Redeemer ! 

(21) 



II Answering Chant. || 

( The Hght behold — The light behold 

( Of Egypt, rising now. 

( Come tread the mountains fair and watch for the dawn with me. 

( Come tread the hill-tops fair and wait for the dawn with me. 



APOLLO. 



When men the great principles of life's true usage and thought 

reclaim, 
Necessity asking before greed and cash values of filth, 
'Tis then the great God in his might comes down ; 'tis then that 

all Hope 



And all Love come down. For all Hope and all Love is the Poet's 

great heart, and all flame. 
Needless for a child of " science " to the scholar to speak 
Of "chemical" and "elective affinities," "selection" — the secret 

he knows. 
But know ye a circle wherein poisonous things and noxious 
B,y " selection natural " affiliate, forming new growths of like kind, 
Which the winds, claiming, send onward a cycle of malarious death 

and of plague. 
Ye it place in the Earth, and give to the air ! Hence know ye 
The clutch of this " Grippe " that's so brutal, the indolent roll 
Of this sickly wave respecting nor strength, weakness, or good. 
That " Influenza " men call, a very gentle caress of thy ebon-ej^ed 

traitor. 
Unwholesome this vapor of cloud, this aeriform type of decay ; 

(23) 



This rarified extract of too aromatic green fields, — call it Nicoti- 
mania, — 

This " Providential " (?) shadow of a far too solid eari/ily Industry. 

Lo ! this is the land where Upas and Hemlock,with deadly Nightshade, 

Of men's spiritual "Day" and " Night " emblems are made; 

Where breath of the waving weeds plenteous, united with all of 
like kind, 

From the Earth that's in air — such direful impetus given — 

Returneth again to the senses of men, a mysterious blast 

Of plague and distress in the land, while they it a " strange Provi- 
dence " call. 

Strange honor we do a sane God, with logic that to "Deity" or 
notohcrc 

Assigns that which through abuse of culture to mania and useless- 
ness "predestines" mankind. 
(24) 



Descend, gentle Urania ; from thy throne silver-mantled, Urania 

gentle descend, 
Our warlike, peaceful errand to men here set forth ; men 
For whom the unstable flood in slavery pants ; men who've the 

electric bolt caught, 
The fiery broom chained that sweeps away poisonous vapors, 
To mingle no more with the fountains aerial and pure. 

For so the great Jove Omnipresent "setteth in order His house," 
Radiantly clear He the canvas doth spread when 
The jeweled wonder of His garment He paints — 
Unchangeable, ne'er from Nature's law perfect man's freed ; 

Hence to "help of the mighty" must woman arise, since in the 

balance 
For adjustment by the merciless " eye for eye " law, jesting and 



blind, 



(2S) 



Men place the dread measure evil with their good. And 

Who the measure of a limitless presumption shall tell ? or the 

judgments 
Of Curiosity, by Wisdom restrained not ? 

Shall Science to herself be untrue, Nature's processes defying ? 
Rightly used Knowledge, Nature or God may abuse. 
When o'er all the land vice shall cease to be cultivate, nor 

esteemed " Industry," 
The race from tyranny of impotent hereditary negations shall rise. 
From "spiritual" and elemental Anarchy growing to pure and 
Great apprehension of the divinity of man. Then shall 
Material Nature cease to mirror his mania, drunkenness, and child- 
like greed 
By Flood, Tornado, and Hurricane ; Earth be visited by habitable 
"airs " 

(26) 



And winds genial, a pacific and immortal clime of glorious 

youth. 
With no uncertain sound doth she speak " whose voice is echo of 

thunders seven," 
When God's mightiest agent, Nature's vital force. 
For an tincleaJi tillage of the soil and for traffic unholy is used. 
Men's " Faith " 's of small import to any until it a basis for thought 

and act faithful 
Becomes, when at once, tmiversal in relation, it stands. 
Genius its power estimates not; and 

Who the steps of the storm hath measured ? who the track of the 

wind doth know ? 
The fire of heaven to Earth's machinery's chained. How think ye ? 
Shall Love unto culture of a sodden vice his strength lend, his 

arm consecrate ? 

(27) 



Draught-horse for the dunghill ! How calculate we good of this 

ill? — 
How the interest compound of this folly sublime ? Fain would I 

with care speak, 
To circumstance bowing, and the "day of small things," 
Yet must we from hence for resurrection of men to wider, more 

sane " responsibility " stand. 
Apprehending that creation's in all ways our work, as well as 

we hers ; 
That men be not born in or of "Original sin," the fulfilling of 

ignorant creeds. 
Neither question of justice eternal, if for some sequence strange 

he fall on an evil day. 
To building of Beauty's temple am 1 dedicate, where clang of iron 

and the ring 



Of steel are heard not, silent rising as the great stars watchful, and, 
as they, 

Far from the rattle of gold in the market-place ; from the flats 
becalmed of Mammon's 

Unscrupulous lustihead, far. Ishmaelite of unpicturesque mind 
and step halting; 

151est not with wealth of imagery and power to please. 

A voice but of expostulation, 1 in undecorated lines give thee dis- 
course 

On the " Flower, Fruit, and Thorn " of this princely agricultural 
pursuit ; 

Of weeds talk ; of agricultural decay, disease, and weather elec- 
trical give thee discourse. 

Since " Love " that includes not responsibility for humanity's 
babes, includeth naught, 
(29) 



'Mong the yeomanry must conscience professional be honored and 

taught, 
Else is " Patriotism " a farce, " Religion " the same, and the hounds 
Of infidelity licentious o'errun, trampling the gardens of our God. 
Falsely used power the elements to greater confusion turning, 
Nature the seeming enemy of mankind becomes, and 
His destruction by direful self-created casualty imminent. 
Commingles not like spirit with like ? 
Thou shalt the Almighty tempt not, nor lay familiar manufacturing 

hands 
Upon thy God in a trivial ministry to vice and accursed greed ; 
The visible expression of soul may not as clay be handled, lest in 

Earth be too much of awful God, 
Too little of gentle Love. For He, indestructible, 
(30) 



Is consumed not of thy flame, Who back on thee impersonally 

hurleth the bolt. 
Who shall the bursting cloud locate ? who the path of the light- 
ning tell ? 
Yet men the truth shirk, and, cowardly o'erreaching the pure uses 

of life, 
Mould for themselves and their progeny an iron fate. 

Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy nature, as thy name, 

Thy kingdom come to Earth, Thy will therein be done ; 

Daily give us bread sufficient for our need ; 

Our sins forgive as we forgive, and may thy strength 

Into temptation lead us not, from "evil" still delivering. 



(30 



But now unto us cometh Hermes afar with fair Vesta the Cypress 

bough bringing, 
She who in homes of the Earth yet tendeth the flame celestial. 
^ J/oia\— Maiden, how comest into presence of the gods, decked 
with an Indian's paint and plumes ? Dangling at thy 
waist as though in mockery of the mystic cestus of our 
Mother Venus, thou dost wear what 'pears a circlet of 
green Peacocks' eyes — 
f/c-s/d. — Gently, O great World Daemon ; thou knowest how on Earth 
My lord "The Eagle's Eye " much of self-knowledge had, 
And much of mythologic wisdom of the world, and medicines. 
When to thy hunting-grounds happy his spirit took flight. 
These things he by will to me gave, saying that 'twere well a 
woman should have that about her, might in self-defence 
be used. 

(32) 



And so this circlet of Fox-galls gave he me with word that 
in thy very sight — your pardon — - by process of " inocu- 
lation " — 

'Tis the last, most simple terrestrial specific for " natiirai 
deceitfulness.'''' 

Many other extracts have I, but they are secrets of the craft, 

For much self-knowledge had the Eagle's Eye, and much of 
wisdom mythologic gave he me by will. But I, alas ! had 
not within this charmed circle faltering stood, save to 
defend an ideal and fulfil an augury. 

For though on Earth my strength be spent, and failure's 
misty crown my brow o'ercast, still 'twas " The Eagle's 
Eye " that to the chieftains said, 

" The Fleet of Foot's " my little " Brave." And so I still 
am jealous for a race of reckless men. 

(33) 



IF//0 to tJiis simple maid hath given the cup ? 
II As Vesta assumes the majesty of Juno. || 

He7-mes. — One Ganymede, my lord. A quick uplifting doth on 
some scant brains act as a lunacy. 

Apollo. — Fair sister and friend, whose greatness stoops not false- 
hood and trifling to recognize or emulate, 'deeming it 
"policy" ; ef " Cynical experiment" takes no note or at 
Calumny's beck opes the reservoir sealed, wherein the 
filth or pettiness of Earthy tongues is careless dropped ; 
Who mistakes not woman's jealous honor for envy's 
swart brood, or place gives to idle curiosity ; whose 
anger when expressed's not rolling of the wild beast's 
eye, but righteous, just, and sad, " master " to none 
saying, who unworthily his state holds. 

(34) 



How shall the hapless lover unto thee make prayer, whose 

lady hath upon him looked with eyes of indignation ? 
By thy changing brightness and the golden glory of thy 
faultless form, I dream anew of hopes immortal, beau- 
teous brow. 

" Serene I fold my hands and wait, 

Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea ; 
I rave no more 'gainst time nor Fate, 
For lo ! my own will come to me." 
Festa (Again transformed). — Thou knowest my wont of old, 
beguiling gods and men through trance and dream and 
vision, oft showing them the future's hospitable face to 
lead them out of self's desponding mood and grasp of 
cold despair. But much I am traduced, and much the 
ungracious unimpassioned have to tell of weakness, 



led by me to ruin's brink, but yet I say, and ever to 
thee say, whose soul still of remorseless passion speaks, 

*' Go — seek the maid 
Whom golden Aphrodite shall persuade. 
To lay her hand in thine, and follow thee," etc. 

Else to Love shall thy secret prayer, be as the flower — 
modest and perennial — ye in her garden by Dian"s fair 
light do secretly plant, for friendship's cordial remem- 
brance a plea. 

As Morning that loveth and groweth serenely to even. 

As Hesper that hateth, yet loves, and waiteth, 

It becomes error when, through passion of self-abasement, 

any shall his godhead believe of less dignity than one 

true heart's "faith" in it. 
(36) 



Who the life assumes, the thought defining of the ' words 

To be? 
Whose soul upon the barren waste is poured, 
The heavens besieging with repentant tears ? 
There being no evil in God's primal heaven, the soul 

whose motives, 
The body whose machinery, will not bear analysis, of a 
physician have need. 
But where shall Titania, the fairy, find help, a home to create 
Where men upholster and stuff with inventions so dire. 
With Walnut, Marble, and carven Mahogany malignant in vain she 

doth wrestle, crying, Help ! O Fairies ! Sisters ! 
How ever can I sweep here? Come give us a lift, 
This thousand-pound bedstead and square rood of wardrobe 
To heave into the fire, Lunatic ! Aye — Concept Imperative, 

(37) 



E'en the song-birds in sad and sweet plaint have o'ercircled my head, 

Whispering that women, their inanimate forms Haunting. 

Make parade in a butchery fantastic the death of an innocent joy:, 

Silent go to them, sister, say they, and recommend "song." 

'Tis thus we for your love a highway cast up. 

And thus we for your love a standard lift up. 

Who with song comfort ye. Comfort ye, Comfort my people, saith God. 

A MEDICAL CIRCLE. 

II Enter Hermes in garment of Priest. Leveling a telescope at a small 
stream upon the horizon labeled 

Fluid 

Aqua, 

Unboiled. 

(38) 



Your pardon, m}- masters learned and brave, but I wish to know 
Have ye late had news of the star where " Poverty" and " Fire " are 

so feared that 
Into streams and pure waters of life men's spittoons and excreta are 

villainous drained. 
By helpless society drank of again. Your pardon, but in U. S. 

alone 
Five hundred million pounds are yearly of the weed manufactured, 
With annual increase of millions twenty. What comes of it ? 
Into streams and pure waters of life the filth by gallons unnumbered 

is cast, 
To be ta'en of again by society helpless, breeding disease, or, 
By the insect world absorbed, unlimited new pests for field and 

garden are create. 
Careful ye the body to ashes consign, while zuith constant wholesale 

(39) 



CiiUure of disease germs is no staying of Death and of Plague. 
'Gainst somewhat they innocent term " enemies of the soil " 
Manhood's strength and beauty from a weary, fruitless toil flee, 
Arcadian loves wholesome and gentle forsaking; in factories and 

mills grind, 
Machinery more intricate piling up, " Results " to destroy ; 
Taxed in vain is men's ingenuity thus. " Machinery " grow that 

shall '■'■causes " prevent. 
A new Gueber can but recommend a new Tophet, and hand ye the 

plan. 
Abolish the sewer, wells empty, and burn. (A time cometh when 

the King 
Shall his own spittoon tend, or find image of his God thus pitifully 

servile.) 
When of such sanitary pyre the flame o'er our country shall rise, 

(40) 



Cleansing ever the land from insect pest, and thine homes from 

disease ; 

Eternal symbol of spiritual development ; 

Eternal tribute to intelligence of a people whose " God " is a " Flame 

of Fire," 

Protection of whose homes and babes is first in its heart. 

From the burdens of sickness and pest in a measure free, 

Make Agriculture a song, and all the glad land an anthem 

shall raise 

Unto Eros our God. The divine-human ! Breath from the 

eternal, unconsuming flame He ; 

A thought made perfect, arrayed in flesh, standing the absolute 

Saviour and Poet. 

Unto ye builders of the Circean temple, 

Rejecting food cleanly and wholesome, to infinity increasing Swine's 

flesh. , , 

(41) 



In poverty and starvation such product may justly be used, then only, 

While the entrails of beasts (Blood, Liver, and vitals) are sewerage all. 

Unfitted for human consuming, as Nature and science have shown. 

" Who to himself addeth more than is clean, healthful, and pure. 

Hath to himself added disease." 

Man shall the all of " power " portray, of " nerve " and of "fibre," 

For so the tree of life groweth, — "Igdrazil, whose root is in Hela." 

While continued usage of swine's flesh, of filth. 

Develops mental and physical lack — to lower, niore brutish pro- 
pensities 

Subjecting man ; while disease of the body of most loathsome kind 
must ensue. 

Material they whose ravings fleshly ask sight of this visage plain ; 

Material he who grazed where absent song and lengthening shades 

Call pasturing herds and rollicking lamb to the bars. 

(42) 



II A windy, barren heath, with Titania borne rapidly along. An aged, 

white-bearded man meets her.|| 
Whither goest ? Coming from the night, dost yet speed toward it ? 
Fear ye not the hags of superstition ; the wild beast's inquisitorial 

tooth ; 
Starvation in the wilderness, nor death upon the desert ? 
Wouldst dreaming fare unto the Stygian bounds, 
Where the wan spectres walk Eternal rounds ? 
Titania. — ■ I who from childhood questioned of conventual faith 
and creeds with honest doubt, 'rr^id the labyrinths of 
misty Egypt wander, treading the unstable Earth in 
trial of mocking spirits, who bid men go this way and 
that for what seems insufficient cause. Lo, I the scrip- 
tures fain would read aright and understand. Far 
better be a fool than not be wise enough. 

(43) 



Tinie. — And what of " Sin " and " Death "? How readest Fate? 

II Phosphorescent lights surround her suddenly and terrific wind 
sweeps by in which aged female forms appear and pass.|| 

Enough ! Pass on ! — I also am thy guardian spirit. Stop not beneath 
the roof of fattened luxury, within the public mart, nor on 
becalmed seas. 

This compass guide thee, and my blessing tarry with thee. 

Adieu ! — Ah me ! — Ah — woe — woe — woe ! 

GRIEF SONG OF THE BIRDS, 

FOR TITANIA. 
Wail ! O Wail ! Wail for Titania ! For love's beauteous bird, 
Heart of fair Dian's white herald, sweet Nightingale, 

(44) 



Cease from thy honeyed rose-drunken revels and wail, O wail ! 

For Love's beauteous bird. Heart of the star-like Oriole, 

Lean from thy storm-tossed house in the winds, and wail with us, 
Wail ! 

For a heart's true labor of love, lost — all lost — Wail ! Wail ! 

Cease — Dawn's bright herald — from thy peans of joy for the Sun- 
rise ; 

Mix sound of tears with thy jubilant gladness, and weep ! O weep 
for Titania ; 

For Love's merry sweet-voiced singer — heart of the bloom-loving 
Linnet. 

Wail o'er the garden of thorns — Wail ! O Wail ! 

For the frail heart tempted and roaming — Love's tenderly beauteous 
Dove — alway make moan. 

(45) 



Shadows in violent and tragic action appear on the misty horizon as 
on a curtain, and pass. The scene changing, shadows turn 
to a dismal wood, forming the entrance to a cave, where sits 
the " Ogre " surrounded with her beasts. " Monkeys," " Cats," 
and " Pugs " fight in a corner while she murmurs to herself in 
dreaming self-flattery — Me Aristocratic lineage — Me Palatial 
Residence — Public character — Charities — Lectures — Me 
Elegant Costumes — Nostrums — Poses, etc. 

II A childish figure weeps in another corner, and " Harpies " are heard 
from an inner room muttering foulness. || 

The Avenging Angel passes : 

Titania, what service weeping canst thou here ? 

Titania (Still in tears, meditating). — Some Lily or Violet sweet the 
kitchen window may claim — the simple-hearted ser- 



vant adores. But in Parlor — in Bedroom — in Sit- 
ting-room — and my Lady's arm-chair — is the caller — 
Lover — Friend — gj-eded foret'er with odor of '•'• Ca- 
nine T 
But what of haughty, arrogant vulgarity expect ? 

Apollo. — Titania, what melancholy service canst thou here ? 

Titania. — Naught ! She asketh service for the brute that fitting 
only is, bestowed on helpless human kind. I've asked 
not gold, nor serve for time, nor will I live within a 
gilded den to call that "friend," who shirks all sweet 
responsibility of loving womanhood, her bed and board 
fouled by the beast, and she without the grace of shame. 
How long's my life to be frittered and wasted by ambi- 
tious quacks and brigands domestic, whose only con- 



ception of Love or Friendship's a " nicans,^'' not an 
'■'■cud,''' where culture of the beast's of more vaUie than 
culture of the Human ? By the eternal God ! a woman 
lindeth better task in life than chambermaid unto a 
Pug! Nor Love nor self-respect beneath such roof 
may tarry o'er a night. I have no duty here except to 
take my leave, for she a censer swingeth in her hands, 
and teaches (?) rneu, 

Apollo. — Arise, and follow me, and as thou believest in another, 
even so, thyself honor. 

I Passing out a storm of hail rattles around, and the Hag glides after 
them screaming angrily : || 
When the Almond on Himala's heights shall bloom, — 
when stones by repentance dissolve, — when water to 
(48) 



" Nectar " is turned, and the " Fates " by conventual 
prayers move; then may the powers of knowledge and 
genius of circumstance wait on Earth's unwelcome, 
despised, and castaway child. 
[In her agitation a pack of cards falls from her clothing, and too many 
" aces " and " knaves " are turned up for honest play.|| 
II A shadow of " Oberon " is seen to pass swiftly. || 



OCEANUS. 

Joyous in garden and grove chase the shadows and beams, 
On a capricious and rainbow-loved April day ; 
Merry the dancing of fauns and wood-nymphs there as of old. 
But merrier the laughter of Almond-crowned heads (unto Athene 
dear) 1 behold. 

(49) 



AL o lus ! ^•E o lus ! 

From hill and from plain my Arabs steeds come, 

Allah II - a Allah ! 

As ^'- Night'' and as " Day " they come. 
Fair and clear-eyed the stars crowning, my snowy-plumed Dragon 

art thou ; 
Framed in silence and shade of Erebus the flaming-eyed Mithra 

doth come. 
Alas ! from afar discern I the awful, cycling tread, alike dreaded of 

gods and of men ! 
Alas ! for with them " Cyclona Sirocco " fierce and untamed, the 

Angel of sadness and gloom. 
Alas for humanity helpless, when Love's war-horses in armed order 

go forth, 
Needless to ask of her language pathetic, a minor chord sweet. 

(50) 



She it is speaks of excess and gluttonous waste of power, 
Lusty of Death, hewing a path through all mists and all blight ; 
True to herself and her master Almighty, the herald of Justice comes. 
"Who the wind soweth, to him comes the whirlwind again." 
'Tis we are the makers of Hurricane drunken and greedy Cyclone : 
For a commerce unholy the flowers of the groves are laid low. 
Silent the forests tell tales which of old men have known, that 
Trees, the sultry drouth's medicine, distributing seasonable rains, 
Whose moisture and heat overland doth the air equalize, keeping 

in tune. 
Aerial equilibrium preserving. On the elements drawing rain, 
Trees, Earth's physicians are, nurses and "Mothers" to the. air. 
We've bidden these furious forces go wild, kill, uproot, and destroy. 
For where is no strength of a fibrous clutch, in play elemental — as 
In mockery of an agricultural lie — floods command but their own. 



Yet Cometh to homes of the Earth new friends and true, 

And men to Vesta, beloved of the gods, a new song will lift up ; 

While pest and disease at the coming of Ceres to hide have no 

chance, 
As beautiful and glorious forms of Earth's healthful new growths. 
Create by life-culturing hands, take place of death and the weeds 

destroyed, 
" Then, Plenty, from the encouraged plow shall rise, to fill, enrich, 

and adorn our happy land." 

JE o lus ! JE o lus ! 

The reveling Earth to new order call ye. Go ! Hasten ! 
Dark dream of the midnight, and Mithra — go thou, 
Go in the East-Wind, and go in the West- Wind, 
Tarry in the North- Wind, and forbid the sweet South-Wind's delay. 
Onward, speed onward. Great Dragon ! Love's steeds from all cor- 
ners call thou, 



Who the mist readeth in the East-Wind's dark hand ; 

Who the cleansing power knoweth of the North- Wind's fierce love ; 

Who the depths have sounded where ascends the lonely Palm ? 

THE FATES. 

Go waken the echoes ! Love's able ! 

Go waken the echoes ! For all things Love's able ! 

O Wake ye wild wind-lyres your wand'ring, wild'ring strains ; 

O Waken sweet wind-lyres, whose mellow tones all the world o'er 

Echo true hearts and fair heads of brave men the world o'er. 

Awaken ! Awaken ! Arising, O visit the Earth with thy minor 

chords sweet. 
O turn ye their woe to sound of harmonious joy ; 
Their brows uplift with courage of humble and reverend fear ; 

(53) 



Forever Athene, clear-eyed from curse of the needless in Nature 

(Of which abuses are born), for men intercedes ; 

For men intercedes where the sons of the morning are laboring all 

For the beauty of Love and of Dian round Zion's great wall ; 

For men intercedes, where the manes of Dian interpreteth "God," 

And the forces of life, death, and of change wait all on her power 

Who Hecate in hades is called. 



Iris. 



Stewartstown, Pa. 

1S90. 



(54) 




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